About Michael Ware

Enough about you. Let’s talk about me.

Nancy Ware painted professionally for 33 years, dragging brother Dan, myself and my dad to countless galleries, shows and classes, planting a seed in me that would grow into an interest in color, typography and design. I started toying with graphic design in high school and eventually bought a used PC loaded with QuarkXpress from a fellow waiter named Martin at Cucina, an Italian restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I made political flyers and later took courses in Photoshop and Illustrator at the School for the Visual Arts. Meanwhile, I worked as a unionized phone tech, a tour operator and a public school teacher.

I eventually grew tired New York City and its daily hassles. My partner Tristin and I began plotting an escape. After a long weekend in Burlington visiting friends, we sold our co-op in Jackson Heights and moved to Vermont with daughters Amandine and Tula in February 2006. Neither parent had a job waiting. Which was stupid.

Vermont & the Web

By 2006, the viability of a graphic design career was already in doubt. The web had taken over. I made a hard shift, bought a copy of Dreamweaver and produced my first and only tables-based layout for LouisesGardens.com, launched in April of that year. I made a few more sites for friends Tina and Ann while pursuing a Web Production certificate at Champlain College before graduating in 2007, already having found a job as a front end developer at Media Solutions International. I learned a ton about CSS and the web that year+ at MSI.

After the Financial Crisis of 2008, I wanted to find less precarious employment that would allow me to design. In 2009 I began at Independent Brewers United, owners of Magic Hat and Pyramid Breweries. I dove into Drupal and designing beer websites (but not the Magic Hat site design) for nearly four years, working with a fun crew of talented people. I jumped ship to work for Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, partly out of a passion for environmental issues. After a year, I had grow restless. I began researching on how to go freelance, talking with Corey Machanic about the pros and cons of supplying your own steam. With his encouragement and occasional endorsement, I leapt out of the plane and became Partisan Pixel LLC on June 22, 2014.

Consulting

I soon learned that I preferred development to design because of the objectivity of development… and the greater need. People wanted front end developers with design abilities and WordPress experience. I dove further into WordPress, PHP, and Javascript.

I would hope that I’ve been successful because of integrity. People who hire me often come back for another round. There may be better programmers or designers, but I combine both reasonably well. I work hard, communicate well and stay organized. I strive for transparency in everything I do.

Michael

Availability

Partisan is accepting work from existing clients only for Fall, 2019.

Partisan Pixel is based in Burlington, Vermont. Portrait photo by Kevin Davison